[OT] Figure painting question

Allan posted this some while back; it's probably worth reposting it for Tom.
I've never managed to find out the equivalent of "Future Acrylic Floor Polish"
here in the UK so I haven't tried it.

Tony

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (fwd) Review of a new wash technique for miniature figures
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2000 17:19:59 -0400
From: Allan Goodall <awg@sympatico.ca>
Reply-To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Organization: Haphazard at best.
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU

I saw this post in rec.games.miniatures.historical. I've never heard of this
before, but I'm going to have to try it.

If you do washes on your figures, you'll know the worst part are the "stains".
The paint doesn't all drop into the cracks of the figure. I suspect it has to
do with surface tension of water and its viscosity. This technique sounds very
cool, and someone else posted that it's not new; this other guy has been doing
it for years. I've never seen this, though.

Note, I haven't tried it, yet. But the technique certainly looks interesting!
Any of you have experience with this?

On 03 Sep 2000 16:07:25 GMT, in rec.games.miniatures.historical
> chicklewis@aol.com (ChickLewis) wrote:

Hello, fellow figure painters. I believe I have finally found the perfect
"wash" for miniature figures.

A few weeks ago I admired some Boxer war figures of local painter here in
Southern California. "Dow the Programmer" told me how to make his "Magic
Wash", and I have been trying it out recently. I am stoked by it. Magic Wash
blows the doors off of every other wash technique I have ever used!! And it is
so inexpensive as to be negligible!! And it is easier than most other wash
techniques!!

This will start to sound a bit hokey, but bear with me, I am definitely not
kidding around. Here is the recipe:

Buy a bottle of "FUTURE acrylic floor finish for non-wax and regular
floors" by Johnson & Son. In the U.S. it comes in big 800 ml (72 ounce) clear
plastic squeeze bottles for about $7, and was available in both supermarkets I
checked. This is more than I can probably use in a lifetime. The clear liquid
inside is slightly more viscous than water. I imagine there are similar
products in other countries, and I recommend that we identify them.

Pre-mix some of the FUTURE, one part of acrylic finish to four parts of
water. This is the Magic Wash stock. I made mine up in a liter sealable milk
bottle. Making a clear stock up ahead of time allows the small bubbles which
can result when mixed with water to subside over time.

Devote one brush to be the Magic Wash brush. I don't know if this is really
necessary, but it seems safer to me, since the formula of the FUTURE finish is
different from those of our acrylic paints.

When you are ready to use it, mix a little of the Magic Wash stock with a
small amount of your chosen pigment. Stir it with your brush, don't shake it.
I have successfully used inks and acrylic paints as pigments.

Brush over your figures and allow to dry.   It dries just about as
quickly as acrylic paints.

It sucks the pigment right down into the crevasses and keeps it there. Doesn't
let it "osmose" back up. And the high areas remain remarkably clear! I have
used black, dark brown, and light tan (for white marble).

And Magic Wash even gives a hard protective coating!! It's not too shiny, but
a final coat of dullcote often makes the figures look better to my eye.

What DON'T I like about it?

Well, I've mentioned the little bubbles, with a method for avoiding them. The
only other "problem" is that, if you tend to lick your brush while painting,
the stuff tastes TERRIBLE!! So I have given up that habit when using Magic
Wash.

I highly recommend that you try this wash. Let us all know what you think of
it.

"Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true."
                                                          - Lord Dunsany
ChickLewis@aol.com 3930 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks, CA   91403  USA
day 818-718-1221
eve 818-784-8476

> Tony Francis wrote:
:
> Allan posted this some while back; it's probably worth reposting it for

Sounds like a variant of "dipping", though with an acrylic
polish/varnish.

For a detailed description of "dipping", see

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/dip.html

Since I a) can't find the recommended dip (Minwax Polyshades) in the local
stores and b) that dip isn't water soluble anyway (ie., I'd have to use
thinner or something like that to clean the brushes, and I'd rather prefer not
to), I use an acrylic clear "satin" acrylic varnish bought in the local craft
shop, and mix it with whatever colour I happen to need. The varnish is *very*
thick, which is why it stays in the folds etc. of the model.

I wouldn't use this technique if I were a good painter, but I'm not <g>

Later,

I have 15mm and 6mm troops and I'm wondering how to do camo on them. The
pattern I have in mind is more or less the US Gulf War era chocolate chip, or
one of the African "leopard spots" patterns. Constraint 1: no airbrush
Constraint 2: it needs to be quick; anything time intensive will take me the
rest of the year to complete. Constraint3: I am looking for lots of small
speckles rather than the
well-defined spots that eg Andy Cowell's troops have (Andy posted the
link a few weeks ago--quite depressing, for those of us who default to
spraypaint....)

My fevered imagination has come up with two ideas: a) put some paint on a
toothbrush and flick the bristles with a
knife/pencil/finger, creating a spray.
b) mix a khaki wash and add some paprika or something similar.

Suggestions?

I'm currently in the middle of painting (ie I started them a while ago but
haven't got round to finishing...) some 15mm FSE PA in the 'chocolate chip'
camo'. I'm taking the slow route however, painting the spots by hand. The
toothbrush flick method 'might' work for 15s, but practice first before aiming
a loaded toothbrush at your figures! The paint would have to be fairly thick
otherwise it would simply spread by
capillary action over the surface of the bristles - in this case you
want it to stay on the tips of the bristles. Use a (clean) wooden ice lolly
stick (or a tongue depressor if you can get one) to flick the
bristles - remember to draw the stick *towards* you to get the paint to
flick the other way, otherwise the only thing you'll camouflage is your own
shirt! The only thing I've successfully painted with this method before was a
star background for some photos.

A tip I read once for 6mm figures was to use a knackered old brush which
you've accidentally forgotten to clean, and the paint has hardened it into
several 'spikes'. Dip these spikes in your chosen camo' colour and you can
apparently paint 6mm uniforms very quickly.

Just for the record, there are some of my 15mm NSL PA in ambush camo on
Brian's SG2 gallery page:

http://www.ftsr.org/sg2/gallery.asp

but these were done the hard way :-(

Tony

> "laserlight@quixnet.net" wrote:
The pattern I have in mind is more or less the US Gulf War era chocolate chip,
or one of the African "leopard spots" patterns.
> Constraint 1: no airbrush